UN: Venezuelan migrant exodus hits 3 million people – “Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have largely maintained a commendable open-door policy”

By Stephanie Nebehay; editing by John Stonestreet 8 November 2018 GENEVA (Reuters) – Three million Venezuelans have fled economic and political crisis in their homeland, most since 2015, the United Nations said on Thursday. The exodus, driven by violence, hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicines, amounts to around one in 12 of the population. […]

Human-rights experts: Political incitement to violence against journalists is “toxic” – One journalist is killed every four days, and most killers go unpunished

31 October 2018 (UN News) – A group of independent, UN-appointed human rights experts have called on world leaders to stop inciting hatred and violence against the media, citing the hundreds of journalists killed or forcibly detained because of their work, and ensure that those responsible are held accountable. On Wednesday, the experts, including David […]

Australia government greenlights luxury camp in Tasmanian world heritage area despite expert advice – “The evidence that the government has ignored its own experts makes a mockery of commitments to meet world heritage obligations”

By Adam Morton 16 October 2018 (The Guardian) – One of the first acts of the Morrison government was to greenlight a private tourism development with helicopter access in Tasmanian world heritage wilderness against the recommendation of an expert advisory body.The decision, signed by an environment department assistant secretary on 31 August on behalf of […]

Afghan drought “displacing more people than Taliban conflict”

By Secunder Kermani 17 October 2018 (BBC News) – A deadly drought in Afghanistan is causing a humanitarian crisis that has displaced more people this year than the war between the government and the Taliban. The BBC’s Secunder Kermani reports from Herat. Shadi Mohammed, 70, wells up with tears as he walks through the makeshift […]

Image of the Day: Only YOU Can Stop Climate Change!

10 October 2018 (The Nib) – “Only YOU Can Stop Climate Change!”, by Matt Lubchansky. Only YOU Can Stop Climate Change!

UN report shows climate change causing “dramatic rise” in economic losses – “The next one that is going to hit us with an explosion is heatwaves”

10 October 2018 (UN News) – Climate-related and geophysical disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis have killed 1.3 million people over the last 20 years and left a further 4.4 billion injured, homeless or in need of emergency assistance, UN experts said on Wednesday.The findings [pdf], published by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction […]

UN chief: With rapid, far-reaching changes, world can prevent global warming worst-case scenarios – “Limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees will require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society”

13 October 2018 (UN News) – “Limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees will require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society – especially how we manage land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities,” Secretary-General António Guterres, at a ministerial meeting on climate finance, in Bali, Indonesia.“That means ending deforestation and planting billions […]

Yemen on brink of “world’s worst famine in 100 years” if war continues

By Hannah Summers 15 October 2018 (The Guardian) – Yemen could be facing the worst famine in 100 years if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted, the UN has warned. If war continues, famine could engulf the country in the next three months, with 12 to 13 million civilians at risk of starvation, […]

World “nowhere near on track” to avoid warming beyond 1.5C target – “We are moving way too slowly. We have to do more of everything, faster.”

By Oliver Milman 27 September 2018 (The Guardian) – The world’s governments are “nowhere near on track” to meet their commitment to avoid global warming of more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial period, according to an author of a key UN report that will outline the dangers of breaching this limit. A massive, immediate transformation […]

World leaders “have moral obligation to act” after UN climate report

ByJonathan Watts and Matthew Taylor 8 October 2018 (The Guardian) – World leaders have been told they have moral obligation to ramp up their action on the climate crisis in the wake of a new UN report that shows even half a degree of extra warming will affect hundreds of millions of people, decimate corals, […]

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